Top 5 Royal Rumble Winners

Next month, the WWE will produce its most anticipated event in Phoenix, Arizona. The Royal Rumble is the second most important event of the year as it starts the "Road to WrestleMania".

30 of WWE's best superstars compete for the opportunity to headline the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania.

The general belief is that the bigger and stronger wrestlers have a better chance of winning the match, but athletic wrestlers like Rey Mysterio have also won it to kickstart some of the phenomenal underdog stories.

The match is always good for some heart-stopping moments, dramatic returns, and soap opera worthy controversy to kick off the road to WrestleMania. The winner of the Royal Rumble sets the main event of WrestleMania as he gets to select the champion of his choice.

Let's take a look at the 5 best Royal Rumble winners over the years.

#5 The Rock

The Rock won one of the least star-studded Royal Rumbles ever. He was an overwhelming favourite heading in, so much that the other entrances didn't matter, but the story here isn't the Royal Rumble that makes it great, it's the journey heading into WrestleMania 2000 that was.

After appearing to have lost the match, Big Show claimed that his feet hit the floor first. For several weeks on Raw, Show offered witnesses, photos, and videos of the incident to prove his agenda. It was eventually decided by Mr McMahon that the Big Show provided enough evidence to warrant a match at No Way Out PPV with the Wrestlemania title shot on the line.

During the match, Shane McMahon returned to help Big Show win the match and the title shot, or so we thought. The Rock attempted a few times to regain the number one contender-ship, but between Shane, HHH, and Stephanie, he would have no such luck. In the final attempt to regain the title shot, Vince McMahon returned to help The Rock secure the fall and the ticket to go to WrestleMania but Shane McMahon and Big Show forced their way into the WrestleMania main event, appearing to set up a triple threat match.

However, the match actually happened on Raw with HHH retaining the title. At the end of the match, Linda McMahon appeared to announce that the WrestleMania main event will feature four men, adding Mick Foley into the mix. HHH would retain the title at WrestleMania as well and by the time we got to the show of shows, the Rumble’s guaranteed title shot was a small afterthought.

#4 Bret Hart/Lex Luger

1994 was the only tie in Royal Rumble history. This was a definite surprise as it seemed that Luger was the obvious favourite to win, while Hart was embroiled in a feud with his own brother, Owen Hart after the night’s earlier events.

The spot with two final contenders hitting the floor at the same time was executed for the first time and it would not be replicated until more than a decade later in 2005 when John Cena and Batista ended up eliminating each other, though this was actually an accident.

So with the tie in place, there would be a unique way to settle the WrestleMania X main event. One person will face Yokozuna, the other will have their grudge match and then face the winner of the first title match. Bret Hart faced Owen Hart in an amazing opener while Luger faced Yokozuna for the title. After being upset by Owen, Hart waited for the winner of Luger/Yokozuna match.

Luger was controversially disqualified by special referee Mr Perfect, that set the stage for the rematch between Bret Hart and Yokozuna. Hart defeated Yokozuna to win the title and end WrestleMania X on a high note. He would then go on to defend the title against the likes of Diesel, Owen, Jim Neidhart and others before finally dropping the title to Bob Backlund at Survivor Series. Luger would flop facing Crush, Tatanka, and Ted DiBiase’s stable for the rest of 1994.

#3 The Undertaker

The Undertaker after winning the 2007 Royal Rumble!

It was really mind-boggling that the Undertaker never won a Royal Rumble up until this point.

The Phenom entered the Royal Rumble 2007 at number 30 and quickly eliminated The Great Khali who was posing a great threat. The final four were HBK, Orton, Edge and The Undertaker himself. The team of Edge and Randy Orton quickly gained the upper hand on the phenom since Shawn Michaels was down. They bloodied the Undertaker with chair shots to the head and had him eliminated until Shawn Michaels came in to eliminate both of them.

This left the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels as the final two lying on the mat and that's when the real drama began. Taker sat up, Michaels kipped up, staring each other down as the tension and drama began to kick in. Just the two of them going at it made the match so important, they tore the house down in the time that they shared in the ring and gave a glimpse of what they were able to achieve 2 years later, at WrestleMania 25. Both men gave the performance of a lifetime fighting to stay in the match and win it. The fans didn’t care who won at this point, they were just captivated by seeing these two legends tearing each other apart.

The ending of the match saw HBK hitting a sweet chin music on the Undertaker, and getting ready to hit another but Taker caught him and threw him over the top rope to win his first Royal Rumble. The Undertaker finally proved to be the Phenom with a Rumble win in his career and went on to defeat Batista to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, advancing his streak to 15 and 0.

#2 Ric Flair

The 1992 Royal Rumble was the first time a prize was on the line. The prize was the WWF Championship that was vacated after the craziness between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker during Survivor Series and Tuesday In Texas.

The premise was simple, 30 men will get a shot at the title and the winner will become champion. And to add an extra twist into the match, Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker were given numbers between 20 and 30. As far as the names go, every major WWF name at the time was in the match, there were multiple favourites besides Hogan and the Undertaker. Guys like Sycho Sid & Ric Flair, the main event stars like Randy Savage, Jake Roberts and Roddy Piper. Established mid-card-card stars like Ted DiBiase, Bulldog and a young upstart who just turned heel in Shawn Michaels.

The stakes were high, meaning everyone was going to step up their game. Who would be rewarded with the vacant title? The ever-popular Hulk Hogan? Would The Undertaker reclaim his lost Championship? Maybe a wild card like Kerry Von Erich could be the last man standing? How about someone who first came into the company with a world title belt of his own? That’s right. After coming into the match as the third entrant and lasting almost an hour, Ric Flair walked away with the WWE's most prestigious title.

An unexpected assist from Sid led to Flair eliminating Hogan and winning the title. So now coming out of the match, everyone assumed we will get Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 8. However, that ended up not being the case. Flair moved into a feud with Savage over the title for most of 1992 but sadly a year later, Flair would leave the WWF and head back to WCW.

#1 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

The only man to ever win the Royal Rumble 3 times. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won back to back Royal Rumbles in 1997 and 1998. However, his win in 1997, ended in a controversy. Austin was actually eliminated during the match but the referees were “distracted” with a brawl between Terry Funk and Mankind. Austin slid back in, eliminated Bret Hart and was declared the winner.

1998 was a different story for the "Texas Rattlesnake" as he dominated the match and went onto WrestleMania to defeat Shawn Michaels. For Austin, that was the start of the Attitude Era and the rest is history.

In 2001, the Austin comeback came full circle. Austin won his 3rd Royal Rumble in 5 years. It was originally looking like he will face the then WWF champion Kurt Angle, but Angle dropped the title to The Rock at No Way Out.

Austin defeated The Rock at Wrestlemania X7, turning heel and joining Vince McMahon in the process. Austin’s title run would go through most of 2001 featuring feuds with Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, trading the title with Kurt Angle and RVD.

Edited by Ben Roberts